1 THE EVOLUTION OF THE RETAILING AND SERVICES ... - fauusp

services activities

services activities (1970-1990), assumed and reinforced by the first zoning law (1972). This was the moment where the real estate capital had started building big retailing and services plants, like shopping malls and mixed use developments. The fifth moment includes the control over the impact of large retail spaces in the urban context and the proliferation of street peddlers/vendors (1990-2007). The main concern at this moment is the retailing and services urban management due to the size of the city and its condition of becoming the main cultural and business tourism city in the country. The urban policies have being including: the revitalization of traditional business city centers; urban works in commercial streets; and programs to manage shopping areas reinforcing the condition of the city as the capital of shopping (retail and wholesale) with different kind of goods, experiences and retail spaces to be in touch. This process asked for new tools to control retailing and services development, in order to maintain the quality of the public space and the vitality of traditional urban areas and take advantages from the generated opportunities for this unique condition of the city as well. We really believe that these tools go beyond urban law, and they reach the field of labor law and taxation, the discussion of property social rights and the need of achieving a fair and balanced wealth distribution. Key words; retailing; urban policies; commerce and city; shopping tourism 2

THEEVOLUTIONOFTHERETAILINGANDSERVICES URBAN POLICIES: THE CASE OF SÃO PAULO CITY Heliana Comin Vargas São Paulo University School of Architecture and Urbanism hcvargas@usp.br PRESENTATION Having as an example the city of São Paulo, it is possible to observe changes in urban law concerning retailing and services activities as a result of changes in the social and economic context. Nevertheless, more the society find ways to control the urban development, more difficulties it faces to modify law in order to respond to its new demands in a world where the only certainty is the high speed of changes. Although the control of the development of retailing and services activities never reached, here (in Brazil), the condition of being an urban policy itself, (a difficult talking), it is possible to find some concerns about them although highly dispersed through urban law and codes. São Paulo city has passed through different emphases over time, as a result of changes in the city's economic dynamics, as it went from being provincial capital to coffee trade metropolis, subsequently becoming the country largest industrial center, and today, it takes on the role of a city of services too. Retailing and services, whose target is the end consumer, has closely followed the changes in the make up of the population and the urban landscape, both from the qualitative and quantitative point of view. Nonetheless, because of the advent of new technology, and the high price and scarcity of land in the downtown areas, the emergence of major commercial undertakings ( like shopping malls in the 90 ies ) that can create their own local environment, required greater reflection on the ways of controlling retailing and services within the context of the city. Nowadays, the high offer compared to the demand of retailing and services activities, in formal or informal ways, in different format and size, started a confused process in urban spaces, mainly in traditional business centers. This process asked for new tools to control the retailing and services development, in order to maintain the quality of the public space and the vitality of traditional areas without creating problems for whom needs to work for survive. We really think that these tools go beyond urban law, reach the field of labor law and taxation, and the discussion of the property social rights. For starting this talking of the evolution of urban policy sketches concerning 3